Publisher and developer NCSoft’s multiplayer online battle arena Master x Master is leaving closed beta and hitting full-release June 21. Founder’s Packs, which offer discounts on characters and skins, are still available on the game’s official site, with 3 tiers to choose from: Recruit, Soldier, and Master. The Soldier and Master packs include name reservation, “which will be opening up soon.” NCSoft promises “a whole host of improvements” directly resulting from player feedback during the closed beta. Master x Master has unique features to help it stand out from the MOBA crowd, including an arcade-feeling control scheme and a “tag” system that allows you to “instantly change Masters in the midst of battle,” letting you “be your own wombo combo,” according to the developer. Continue reading…
Source: Guild Wars Publisher's New MOBA Gets Release Date

ISIS Using More Hollywood Movies in Recruiting Propaganda
Stolen footage and copied scenes from films like ‘American Sniper’ and ‘Hunger Games’ are being incorporated inro the terror group’s recruitment efforts.read more
Source: ISIS Using More Hollywood Movies in Recruiting Propaganda

The Complex Gender Politics of the 'Wonder Woman' Movie
Can Patty Jenkins make the superhero world safe for female directors? Warner Bros. gambles $150 million on its first woman-centered comic book movie with a filmmaker whose only prior big-screen credit was an $8 million indie: “I can’t take on the history of 50 percent of the population just because I’m a woman.”read more
Source: The Complex Gender Politics of the 'Wonder Woman' Movie

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Source: Daily Deals: Nintendo Switch for Under £260, Parrot MiniDrone, Video Game Sale

Tough Pi-ano
Brian McEvoy wanted to make a toughened electronic keyboard for his cousin, who has Down’s syndrome: “He loves music therapy but he breaks pianos on a weekly basis.” Brian’s aunt asked him to help with therapy devices for his cousin and other such kids. “The idea was exciting because there is a whole different mindset when designing for someone who will not handle things with gentle hands. These projects have to absorb damage without hurting anyone.” The full article can be found in The MagPi 57 and was written by Phil King. The result is the Tough Pi-ano. It has no exposed metal, and the keyboard area is covered with thick plastic. For its keys it uses arcade buttons, which are inexpensive and easy to replace. Each of four octaves is powered by a Pi Zero, with a USB sound card outputting the audio to an external amplifier and speakers. While Brian contemplated the Tough Pi-ano’s design for two years, it only took him a couple of weeks to build, putting his woodworking skills to good use. “Keeping everything simple was integral to making a solid structure.” Since the original design concept was for a perfect piano replica with easily replaceable octaves, he started crafting wooden piano keys. After experiencing too many problems, however, these were replaced with plastic arcade buttons. “In the end, arcade buttons were the best solution since they were easy to source and replace.” You can see the construction beneath the Pi-ano Brian wrote a Python program using the Pygame library to read the arcade button presses and play WAV piano samples. While he considered adding a 3.5mm jack to each Pi Zero, he eventually opted to use cheap USB sound cards to output the audio. The biggest problem was electrical noise. “The first octave I built didn’t have any pull-up resistors on the keys so they were, of course, prone to floating. At that point, I had inadvertently built a touchless piano,” recalls Brian. 1K resistors were added to each input to solve the problem. “There is still some noise on the audio despite using a clean power supply and line filter. Maybe using $0.99 USB audio cards is to blame.” While Brian admits it would have been possible to use a single Raspberry Pi and remote I/O to power the piano, the use of one Pi Zero per octave has some benefits: “If any…
Source: Tough Pi-ano